For anyone that’s had tools stolen from a Ford van, you may recognise the name ‘Hykee’. If you don’t recognise the name yet, you soon will. If you’re an Auto-Locksmith or connected to any recovery agency, garage or van sales, this type of lock is going to be loved by your customers. However, along with the short-term gain, we can see long-term pain. This means we may all end up hating them! Want to know more?

What’s a Hykee Lock?

Van crime has stepped up a gear. For those who follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you”ll know that we’ve been trying to raise awareness. The rise in crime has been due to tech-savvy criminals using locksmith tools. They use the picks to open up the Ford Transit Mk7 and empty out the contents without any damage to the van. Alongside this, the design and manufacture of locks on the Ford Custom and Transit is sub-standard. Thieves are exploiting this.

One answer to combat this, is replacing the standard door lock with a high-security Hykee lock. This means that the key that you put into the door is different to the one that goes in the ignition. The design of the lock means it’s very difficult to pick and it also makes the van very difficult to break into. Remember this, it’s very important later on.

Hykee Lock Prior to fitting

Installed in a Ford Custom van

With the problems already mentioned above, choosing to have these installed is an excellent short term solution. However, as Auto-Locksmiths, and for anyone involved in the service and repair of vehicles, we can see a long-term problem.

Fast Forward Two Years

Imagine you’re the second owner of a Ford Custom. The company that bought them from new, took the steps of installing Hykee door locks to protect the contents, great so far. A short time after getting the van, the key remote control stops working. With the key not working you can’t use the buttons to unlock the van. This is a problem we see all the time on the MK7 Transit and are starting to see this on the newer models of Ford Vans. Hopefully, when the van was handed over to you, the van sales explained about the different door lock. Hopefully they told you to make sure you don’t use the door lock long-term. This is because it will wear out the key and the lock.

So you open the door with the Hykee key and all is well. You’ve overcome the immediate problem because you’re back in the van. On the way to work and vowing to get the remote control sorted as soon as possible. Except you don’t ( let’s face it, we’re all busy people. I’ve had a dodgy boiler for weeks now, but it usually works eventually so I’m living with it…) Then one day, a few weeks or months on, you put the key into the door lock and nothing…the door lock won’t turn and the van won’t unlock.

The reason I believe this is going to happen is simple. Every week we see this problem on the MK7 Transit. Owners call us because the keys or locks have been used to the point of failiure and now the owner is locked out.

Worse still – Lost keys

Part of our job as Auto Locksmiths, is to drive to our customer and replace the van keys on-site. A Ford Transit is a dream for us, we do lots of them, so we’re always pleased to get the call. However this is going to change with the introduction of Hykee door locks.

Our method of making a key for your van is to pick open the drivers door lock, measure the shape of the key and then cut and programme fresh keys. Having the original door lock allows us to make keys. Problem. When the door lock has stopped working, or the Hykee key is worn out, or worse still it’s lost this option is no longer available, we can’t easily make a key for your van now. Worse still, we can’t easily get into the van. Our problem is what’s protecting your van tools and van in the short-term, but long-term, whoever is making new, has a problem.

Just think about this for a few minutes. You need new keys so that you can go to work, but when you call around, no-one wants to help because they know it will be a nightmare job.

I know you don’t want to think about this, I get it. You feel that it won’t happen to you, even though we replace lost keys for these vans every week, and that’s in sleepy Lincoln. I would imaging, within the larger cities, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of these vans in use. So what are the options if you do come up against this problem ( which let’s face it, someone reading this will).

Scenario One.

You leave the lights of the van on, or it’s winter and the battery goes flat on the van. This is a problem as old as time, the AA have even got dedicated vans that drive around all day, just to sort out this kind of problem.

You put the security key into the security door lock and nothing happens, it won’t turn and therefore won’t unlock. You’re locked out.

Scenario Two

You leave the keys in the ignition or on the seat while you’re sorting something else out in the back of the van. The drivers doors is closed because it’s raining or windy and as you close the back door, the van locks itself, with the keys on the seat or in the ignition. We see this everyday. You’re locked out.

Scenario Three

Tou put down the keys in the back of the van. Ford, in their wisdom, have put a ‘boot’ button on the key, and so you only opened the back doors. When you accidently leave the keys in teh back and shut the back doors, they re-lock. This is the most common reason for anyone locking themselve out and yes, you’re locked out.

Scenarion Four

You lose the keys and don’t have a spare. This is our bread and butter. Unfortunately you don’t have any record of the key number for either your ignition of your Hykee door lock. When you call the van sales you got the van from 6 weeks prior, they don’t have any information that can help you sorry. You’re locked out.

The Problem

You just want to get on, you just want some keys. However, everyone that looks at the van, or you talk on the phone to tells you the same thing….sorry mate, it’s got one of those funny locks on, we can’t help you. They also tell you the only option is to either smash a window to get in and probably, drill the lock out and replace it. Remember, this is the special lock that stops thieves from drilling it out, to steal the van and now you need to drill it out?

The Answer

We don’t know…honestly. It’s a problem I’ve had in my head for the last three months now. I know that these new locks are going to save you some short term heartache. Hopefully they’ll keep your tools safe and your van on the drive. Long-term, they are going to be a problem. Maybe not in 2017, or 2018, but when you’re the third or fourth owner, it’s going to happen.

As a company, we know deep down that we should be fitting them. We’re getting asked for them and so in the next few weeks we will be. However, we know that it will come back and bite us ..’well you fitted it, it’s your problem. Hopefully soon a solution will come onto the market, like a tool that will pick the lock so we can get in, or a special drill that will let us drill it out easily? But hold on, what about when the criminals get hold of these tools? Isn’t that exactly where we are now?